BATON ROUGE, La. (Dec. 13, 2012) – The LSU Lady Tigers took a 21-point lead into halftime, and coasted the rest of the way to defeat the ETSU women’s basketball team, 76-42, on Thursday night at the Maravich Center.

ETSU (2-3) watched LSU (5-3) score 22 of the game’s first 30 points, with the Lady Tigers opening the lead to 29-11 when Theresa Plaisance hit for two of her game-high 16 points at the 7:11 mark of the opening half. The Lady Bucs fought hard to trim the lead back down to 14, 33-19, on an Amy Duke (Hendersonville, Tenn.) made jumper with 4:22 to play, but LSU ended the half on a 7-0 run, and scored the first eight points of the second half to bust open the game, 48-19.

From there, ETSU only ever got to within 25, and LSU took its largest lead of 36 before Shawn Randall (Orlando, Fla.) put in the game’s final basket with 11 seconds remaining. The bucket made Randall ETSU’s leading scorer with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting, just behind freshman Brianna McQueen (Jonesboro, Ga.) who had 12 points (4-9 FG), to go along with five assists.

For the second time this year, ETSU was held to under 30 percent as a team, shooting 26.6 percent (17-64 FG). The Lady Bucs struggled from three as well, making just one on 16 attempts in the game. Meanwhile, LSU shot 54.0 percent (34-63 FG), while Danielle Ballard and Derreya Youngblood joined Plaisance in double-figure scoring. LSU also became the first team to outrebound ETSU this season, edging the Lady Bucs on the boards 44-39.

The Lady Bucs entered Thursday without their leading scorer and rebounder, Destiny Mitchell (Bluffton, Ga.), who sat out after suffering a concussion earlier in the week during practice. The absence of Mitchell certainly did not help ETSU’s cause, but ETSU had proven it could compete with the Lady Tigers after taking them to overtime in last year’s meeting in Johnson City.

McQueen made a jumper to bring the game to a 2-2 tie early, but that was the only instance overtime was even considered. LSU raced out to a 15-6 lead at the first media timeout – McQueen accounting for all six of ETSU’s points – and never looked back.

LSU put the finishing touches on a dominant first half when Plaisance made a layup and was fouled with 12 seconds before the break. Plaisance missed the free throw, but Bianca Lutley grabbed the offensive board to prevent ETSU from getting a last opportunity.

LSU led 40-19 at intermission, shooting 53.1 percent to ETSU’s 28.6 percent. It was ETSU's best shooting half of the game.

The Lady Bucs struggled to sink shots the rest of the way, shooting just 25 percent (9-36 FG), including 0-9 from three-point range. LSU actually improved upon its first-half numbers, going 17-of-31 from the floor (54.8 percent) in the second frame to end the Lady Buccaneers’ two-game winning streak.

The ETSU women’s basketball team returns home next Tuesday, playing in the first game of an ETSU basketball doubleheader to take place at Brooks Gym. The Lady Bucs will battle Appalachian State at 4:45 p.m., before the men’s team takes on Charleston Southern at 7 p.m.

ETSU Notes

- ETSU saw its two-game winning streak come to an end, and was handed its worst loss of the season.

- ETSU was held to under 30 percent shooting for the second time in five games on the 2012 campaign. The other was in the 33-point loss, 81-48, at Chattanooga.

- Shawn Randall led the Lady Bucs in scoring for the first time this season with 13 points. The only other Lady Buc to lead the team in scoring is Brianna Bogard, scoring a career-high 22 against Memphis.

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